Presented by Nationwide Insurance Agent Jeff Vukovich
A little over a month ago, after a second consecutive season without a playoff appearance, executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas promised to take action.
“Today I have said it many times: in this group something is not working. I have to find ways to find a group that will make improvements. We’ve done it for a couple of years and it hasn’t worked,” Karnišovas said on April 20. “Everything is on the table.
“I’m going to look at the entire group. This group has not worked. There are a lot of great things about certain individual players and a lot of young people who have stepped up and it’s positive. But overall, as a group, it didn’t work. So I’ll have to find these answers in the offseason.”
Karnišovas and the Bulls didn’t need Wednesday’s reminder that the Bulls no longer have players on their roster who have earned All-NBA status. For the second straight season, the Bulls were left out of all three teams. DeMar DeRozan received a third-team vote.
Perhaps luckily for the Bulls, only four of the 15 players honored reside in the Eastern Conference.
Still, 2021-22 seems like a long time ago. That’s the Bulls’ final playoff appearance and All-NBA designation, with DeRozan making the second team after a season in which he and Zach LaVine also made the All-Star team.
Now, the organization is focusing on trading LaVine as its top priority this offseason.
For what it’s worth, more talk and rumors emerged from last year’s NBA Draft Combine in Chicago than this year’s edition regarding LaVine. Finding a team willing to take on $139 million over the next three seasons for a player coming off his third surgery is a significant risk.
However, this still feels like a relationship that has run its course and it’s a question of when, not if, LaVine will be dealt with.
But what if the Bulls can’t trade LaVine this offseason? How does Karnišovas achieve his goal of improving his team?
From this standpoint, which assumes a modest or nonexistent trade market for Nikola Vucevic, only DeRozan, Patrick Williams and Lonzo Ball offer options for a significant trade. But Karnišovas has said publicly that he wants to re-sign the top two and the organization has tried to support Ball’s comeback attempt as much as possible.
If everything is on the table, as Karnisovas suggests, something will have to give if a market for LaVine doesn’t emerge.
If DeRozan’s price rises too much, perhaps sign-and-trade options will be considered. If Ball’s medical future is unknown, perhaps seeking a career-ending injury provision for him or resigning and extending the final year of his $21 million contract will be explored. Giving up Williams seems like the least acceptable option here.
That’s not to say he’s more valuable than DeRozan, who is the definition of a floor-lifter and who earned every penny of his three-year, $82 million contract. It’s more to say that Williams is younger and, with his shooting and his defense, fits the prototype of the “3 and D” wings that populate the conference finalist teams. You almost have to pay for his potential, especially with the salary cap set to increase with the influx of new TV money.
The Bulls are the definition of mediocre: competitive enough to be intriguing at times, but ultimately just a contender to get into. Karnišovas has cited his and his staff’s creativity during the 2021 offseason as an example of what they can accomplish.
He will need to be again if he wants to achieve his goal of improving his group.
Keynote USA
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